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He got married last June, celebrated his 30th birthday in March, graduated college in May and announced in June of this year that he and wife Ashley are expecting their first child -- a baby boy -- later this year.

Channel 4 Action News anchor Sally Wiggin sat down with the two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, where he’s preparing for the upcoming season, as well as being a first-time dad.

When asked what kind of father he wants to be, Roethlisberger said he doesn’t need to look any further than his own dad, Ken.

“I just want to be like my dad, so I’ve had 30 years of being around, to me, the best role model there is when it comes to being a father. I don’t know if a 20-minute sit-down really can do anymore for me than what 30 years of experience has brought to me,” Roethlisberger said when asked if he’s talked with his dad about becoming a father.

But Roethlisberger said he also likes to seek out parenting advice from others, including teammates: “Brett Keisel and I sat up here the other night for probably about an hour and just sat outside talking about kids and what it was like, so it’s neat to get experience, to talk to people who have experience like that."

With concussions looming over the NFL, Roethlisberger said he’ll allow his son to play football, but there will be some restrictions.

“If he wants to, yes. I’m going to support my son in whatever he wants to do. If he wants to play football, I’m all for it. The only thing I will say is I won’t let him play contact football until the fifth grade -- that’s when I started playing. Nowadays I think they go full contact way too early. If he wants to play flag football or anything like that early, fine.”

Even though his son has yet to arrive, Roethlisberger said he’s already had an impact on his life, including his decision to get his college degree. He left Miami University of Ohio after his junior season to enter the 2004 NFL Draft, where he was selected 11th overall by the Steelers.

“It took nine years, but I finally got it. Better late than never. It just kind of timed up perfectly with having a child soon. It’s important for me to express education to my son and children. I don’t want them to sit there and say, ‘You didn’t finish school, dad.’ Well, I did, so now they don’t have that on me,” Roethlisberger said.

As the conversation turned to football, it was nearly impossible to talk about the team’s upcoming season without mentioning Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Wallace, who continues to hold out over a new contract.

Roethlisberger said he’s already reached out to Wallace and the Rooney family about the situation, but admitted there’s only so much he can do.

“I’ve tried to do as much as I possibly can do on both sides to get this thing done because I love Mike. Mike’s a great teammate. He’s a great player. We want him here. We have confidence he will still be here. We have nothing negative to say about Mike. The hard part is I’m not Mike’s agent and I’m not in the front office of the Steelers, so I’m an outsider trying to pull this thing together,” said Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger cautioned the Steelers can still be a good offense without Wallace, but said the 26-year-old speedster brings something special to the table.

“Mike is a special player. Mike does things to defenses that defensive coordinators have nightmares about,” said Roethlisberger.

As for the players who are in camp, many eyes have been focused on rookie linemen David DeCastro and Mike Adams, whom many expect to quickly ascend the depth chart into the starting lineup. But Roethlisberger said veterans aren’t going to just hand over their starting jobs.

“There are guys like Ramon Foster and Trai Essex that are veteran guys that are probably playing as good as anybody right now. To me, that’s the neat part is seeing how the competition pushes everybody. I think those guys maybe took a little offense to ‘all of a sudden we’ve got two rookies coming in to start’. They want to start, too. It’s neat to see how they push each other,” said Roethlisberger.

And as Roethlisberger enters his 30s, he’s also settling into an even more prominent role on the team after the departures of longtime leaders like Hines Ward, James Farrior, Aaron Smith and Chris Hoke.

“I felt like I’ve always -- the position dictates it -- kind of been a leader. Whether you’re a captain or not, there are things that kind of go along with being a quarterback and leading these guys,” said Roethlisberger. “For me, I enjoy sitting back at times and watching who the next group of leaders are. Just watching the young guys and seeing who that next cream of leaders are going to be with me. Offensively, it’s just kind of fun to see who’s developing and who’s going to coming up and be that next Hines Ward, if you will.”